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5 reasons online gambling continues to grow

According to the commission, the overall UK gambling market earned some £14.4 billion in the 12 months ending April 2018. Online gambling accounted for £5.3 billion of the total.

Those numbers are impressive enough by themselves. But consider this: total gambling revenues for the 12-month period were up 4.2 percent from the year before. Online gambling revenues were up 12.8 percent for the same period. It is clear that online gambling grew more than three times the rate of gambling in general. Online gambling is commanding an ever-larger share of the overall market.

The question is, why? Fortunately, we have the answers. We just have to look at the habits of gamblers to truly understand what's going on. Below are five reasons online gambling continues to grow, not only in the UK, but around the world.

1. Gambling online is convenient

First and foremost, gambling online is as convenient as it can be. It may take a little bit of research to find a small number of casinos a gambler prefers, but that's really the extent of that effort and inconvenience. It is nothing like having to visit the land-based casino.

Let's say you live in an area where there are no casinos. The closest casino is hundreds of miles away. Now you have to plan a trip. That means arranging for hotel, buying plane or train tickets, or even driving. It is an awful lot of effort just to have fund and play your favorite games.

Online gambling requires none of that. You simply bring up your computer or smartphone and off you go. Choose the right casino and you'll have access to Mega Moolah and all your other favorite games. And by the way, online gamblers are not limited only to slots. There are also table games, video poker, bingo and scratch card games, and even live dealer games.

2. You can gamble with cryptocurrency

Next, online gambling is quickly warming up to the concept of cryptocurrency. Growing numbers of casinos are accepting bitcoin and other crypto. So now you do not even have to have a regular bank account or credit card in order to gamble.

How big is this? It is hard to quantify. Cryptocurrency platforms are changing the way people transact business by removing traditional banks and fiat currencies from the equation. Online gamblers appreciate this new way of depositing and withdrawing outside of traditional bank practices.

Remember that you can actually use your bitcoin (and some other coins) by depositing some into your Neteller, Skrill or UPayCard account - providing you already have one of those. When you deposit bitcoin to such as account they convert the BTC to e.g. GBP or EUR which you can then deposit into any of the Mega Moolah casinos. Read our article on Playing Mega Moolah with Bitcoin via Skrill or uPayCard or Neteller. Withdrawing funds from the casino also goes through your Neteller, Skrill or UPayCard account.

3. You can gamble on your schedule

When you gamble at brick-and-mortar casinos and betting shops, your playing time must accommodate the proprietor's schedule. That's not always possible, is it?

It is true that casinos in major cities are sometimes open 24 hours a day. Betting shops are a different animal. They may maintain hours that just don't fit with your schedule. For example, let's say you're normally up overnight because you work the graveyard shift. Even on those nights you're not working, you are still awake. What do you do if you're looking to play a few rounds of video poker but your local betting shop is closed?

Online gambling allows you to play all your favorite games whenever you want. Video poker is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, every week of the year. You can play at three o'clock in the morning or one o'clock in the afternoon. You can play on your commute to and from work. You can play on your lunch break or while you're sitting on a park bench enjoying the sunshine.

Having access to online casinos any time of the day or night makes it possible for you to gamble on your schedule. You are not locked into the operating hours of brick-and-mortar casinos and betting shops.

4. You can play for free

Imagine walking into a brick-and-mortar casino, pulling up a chair at a blackjack table, and asking the dealer if you can get in on the game for free. You just want to try it out without betting any money. How do you think the dealer will respond? He or she will not let you play, that's for sure. There is no such thing as free play at a brick-and-mortar casino.

Guess what? A lot of online casinos do offer free play. Free play is made possible by the very software that powers online casinos. Find a casino that offers it and you can try out games to your heart's content without depositing anything.

Online gamblers love this feature. Free play gives them an opportunity to test out titles they haven't ever played before they start gambling on them. You may love Mega Moolah while someone else really isn't a big fan. Your friend might prefer a good table game like blackjack or baccarat. Both of you can try your preferred games without risking any money.

Free play is also a way to enjoy entertaining casino gambling even if you don't have the money to bet. There are lots of people who find slot games highly entertaining but really cannot afford to gamble. They couldn't walk into a brick-and-mortar casino or betting shop and play slots for free. But they can do so online.

As a side note, online casinos and game developers are fine with free play. It doesn't cost them any more to run a game in demo mode for players who cannot, or do not want to, gamble. Furthermore, offering free play is a way to entice more gamblers to start betting.

5. Online bonuses and promotions

Last but not least are the many bonuses and promotions often tied to online gambling. Let us start with the welcome bonus. Nearly every online casino offers one.

A welcome bonus is given either as matching cash or credits to new players. So as an example, let's say you sign up with Royal Vegas Casino and immediately deposit €300. The casino offers a 100 percent matching bonus valued at €300. You will instantly have €600 to start playing with. That's a lot of money which you can use to go after the €13.8 million Mega Moolah jackpot!

Likewise signing up with Luxury Casino and depositing £150, will give you a 100 percent matched bonus of £150. You will instantly have £300 to play with!

Show me a land-based casino that offers a 100 percent match bonus! I dare you to go to your local casino and ask for a bonus on your deposit. It just won't happen... you might get a few laughs out of it though ;)

However not all online players seek the most biggest bonus they can find - instead they want to play using their own money and not have their bonus money tied to wagering requirements. You can read all about this in our article Should I claim a Mega Moolah bonus or not?

Moving on, many casinos offer additional matching bonuses for subsequent deposits. Then there are promotions. We have seen promotions tied to specific games, others offered on specific days of the week, and still others that award players with free spins. There really is no limit to the bonuses and promotions.

It is true that you don't need bonuses and promotions to have a good experience on an online gambling site. But they sure do make gambling a lot more attractive. Online gamblers love their bonuses and promotions to the extent that some make a point of continually signing up at new casinos just to take advantage of the bonuses.

A different way to gamble

We have outlined five of the reasons online gambling is commanding an ever-larger share of the market. If we had to summarize those five points into a single phrase, we would say that online gambling is a different way to gamble. And for a lot of people, different is good.

There are people who want to gamble but have no access to brick-and-mortar casinos. Maybe gambling is legal in their country, but the nearest casino is so far away that getting there is impractical. Or perhaps they live in countries where gambling is illegal or made very difficult or non-existent. They don't have the means to go abroad. For them, online gambling is the only way to play.

The fact of the matter is that online gambling has filled a niche. Perhaps that is why it has been so successful. Are you familiar with that principle that says success in business is a matter of finding a need and filling it? That's exactly what online gambling has done.

There is definitely a need for online gambling, or at least the demand for it, as evidenced by the numbers from the UK Gambling Commission. People want to be able to play their favorite casino games on their schedule and without having to visit a brick-and-mortar casino. They can do so thanks to the internet and online casino sites.

Will online gambling continue to command a growing market share? In all likelihood, yes. There doesn't seem to be anything standing in the way of industry growth in the years ahead.